Do Not Go Gently

Sayane’s soul drifted between realities and existences as dreams bled into memories.

Harsh snare drums strummed their angered cadence. Vision returned. Sayane was being dragged across glistening metal. The sky was still filled with combat and chaos. Thousands of angered screams raged towards Sayane and Echo, who was beside her. Two massive armored Silencers pulled them both through the raging crowd. Trash and spit struck Sayane as her thoughts cleared into focus.

Blood ran down her face. Primarch Stol was up ahead, standing before the grotesque crystal and Dissonance machina. Terror struck Sayane when she fully awoke.

“No! No! No no no no no no no!!!” she screamed as she kicked her feet in desperation.

They had been captured. It was all falling apart. They had come so close but now she had failed. The Dissonance had overpowered her, and whatever awaited would surely be death or worse.

Echo groaned and opened his eyes. Immediate horror tore through his face and he was suddenly fully lucid.

“Sayane, I will draw out my suffering for as long as I can. To give Azag time. He will come for us. Fight songstress. Fight with your entire soul. Do not let them win!” he growled beneath his breath.

“What- what are you saying?” Sayane pleaded as more hateful screams drowned the two of them out.

But Echo was already moving on. His eyes closed and he murmured two words to himself.

“Y’aaku. Dra’Hna.”

He paused, then his jaw unhinged. Fangs as long as fingers extended, dripping green fluid from their ends. Echo flung his head to the side and dug his fangs into Sayane’s escort, then his own. Sayane was thrown to the ground as the two armored beings howled in agony. Then the convulsions began.

Other armored bodies rushed forward to retrieve Echo and Sayane, who were promptly thrown at Stol’s feet.

“I see you still have some bite left,” growled Stol.

“Let us remedy that.”

Multiple hands seized Echo as he snarled in resistance. Their grip pried his mouth open, and a pair of metal vice grips was shoved into the opening. Metal scraped bone and Echo roared in defiance as his fangs were ripped away. The crowd behind them cheered with malice.

“Echo!!! No!!!! Please, stop this!!!” Sayane begged.

But Echo’s hand raises to stop her. He endured.

As soon his fangs were gone, Echo spat blood and venom into the faces of his detainers. Howls of agony flooded the air as their faces began to burn.

Echo ripped himself free and screamed out.

“Oppressed people of the empire! Stand with the songstress and the unified rebellion!!”

Another set of hands seized him but Echo’s snakelike joints snapped and his body coiled around them. He poured more venom onto their face then threw them to the ground.

“It was not the undersocieties that poisoned our air and water! Who stole our homes and left us naked in the streets! It is not the other races or peoples of the lower rings who harm us and kill our loved ones! It is the empire! It is those at the highest rings, who look down on all of us with hate!!”

His words reached pockets of listeners who were nervously hiding in the crowd.

A final rush of bodies collapsed onto Echo and pinned a jagged helmet over his head. Yet he continued to fight.

“Azag the Guardian is a noble, compassionate leader! If you wish to leave this empire and stand for a better world, join him! If you wish to stay and live on hating and oppressing others, THEN MAY YOU DIE ON THIS DAY!!”

Sayane could not take her eyes from the broken father who was now so completely resisting the empire he had once served. Pins from the helmet shot inward, drilling into his head. His scream was beyond any sound that Sayane had ever heard. But he still would not fall.

“AZAG!!!! Hear my plea!!! Save those that wish to be saved!!! AND KILL THE REST OF THESE MOTHER-“

The blast came suddenly. Before Sayane had even heard the concussion, Echo’s chest was blown open. He instantly fell over dead.

“NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!” Sayane screamed out.

“Nooooooo nooooo noooooooo noooooooooo!!!! ECHO!!!” she cried.

Primarch Stol lowered his still smoking weapon.

“Silence,” he growled.

Sayane was lifted once more. Her feet were pulled through the smeared remains of Echo’s body as she was brought before Stol and the Dissonance. Disembodied screams raged in Sayane’s head as malicious red beams stabbed her skin.

A machina of coils and tubes was rolled forward. Sayane’s blood turned cold as she looked up the device. She did not need to be told what it was.

“Behold! The supposed great songstress of The Underworld!! Brought low before our might!” Stol shouted to the ravenous crowd.

“It is time for all the world to see our true power! To see what we do to those foolish enough to try and stand against us!”

The coils activated and red energy jumped between them as pumps began to charge.

“On this day, we will silence the last songstress! On this day, WE SHALL STEAL HER SONG ONCE AND FOR ALL!”